Cover -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Introduction -- Identity Crisis -- The Failure to Choose -- From Crisis to Clarity -- 1: Proxy Wars -- Donna and Apple -- Better to Be a Pirate -- The Distribution "Problem" -- Breakdown -- The Confrontation -- Proxy War -- Déjà Vu -- The Fate of Donna Dubinsky -- 2: The Murky Middle -- CNN Faces a Crisis -- It's Harder Than You Think -- Market Moves -- A Hard Choice -- 3: Neither Fish Nor Fowl -- A House Divided Cannot Stand -- Laws of Attraction and Aversion -- Cognitive Fluency -- The Categorical Imperative -- Making the Leap -- 4: The Shadow Side of Strategy -- The Common App -- The Shadow Side of Strategy -- The Anatomy of Choice -- The Clash of Two Models -- Marrying Hard and Soft -- 5: Taking a Stand -- Conservatory Roots, Contemporary Reality -- Facing the Facts -- The Gordian Knot -- Longy and the "Musician of the 21st Century" -- Debunking Old Myths -- Gaining by Giving Up -- The Risks of Equivocating -- What's the Right Thing to Do? -- A Fortuitous Meeting -- The Freedom of Choosing -- 6: The Hunger for Purpose -- Creating Meaning at PayPal -- Why Corporate Life So Often Disappoints -- Connecting with the Why of Business -- Meaning That Makes Sense -- Why Meaning Motivates -- Cause and Community -- Fighting for Clarity -- Epilogue: From Insight to Action -- The Courage to Confront Uncomfortable Facts -- Acknowledgments -- About the Author -- Index.

Turf wars, low morale, bad politics, and misguided strategies: these are issues that claim much of a leader's time. But this parade of dysfunctions and messy "people" problems actually points to an organization confused about its core business, torn between competing ideas about what it is and wants to be-an organization facing an identity crisis. Strategy and leadership expert Chatham Sullivan argues that when the purpose of a business becomes confused, it is the leaders' responsibility to restore clarity, especially in the face of tough strategic choices that have political, personal, and cultural consequences for the organization. Sullivan shows leaders how to take the decisive stand that clarifies their organization's core purpose. Featuring compelling stories of leaders who have succumbed to and successfully resolved their organizations' identity crises, The Clarity Principle bridges the gap between leadership and strategy and demonstrates the tremendous gains to be achieved by leaders willing to make tough choices.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.